Show'n Tell

Hey y'all, I'm home! I'm tired and I never ever want to eat again, but I had a fabulous time, and I am itching to get to work on the many projects swirling around in my head. But first, some highlights of the weekend.

Since this was a quilting event, here are a few quilts presented at Show'n Tell:

A gorgeous rendition of Hunter's Star.

A finished sampler quilt, taught last year.

A sample of this year's Mystery Quilt. The instructions for a mystery quilt are mailed to participants over a period of 5 to 7 months in the year preceding the Getaway, and those who complete their quilts show them. I participated this year, but only opened my first set of instructions. Now that I've seen what it looks like, I can't wait to make it! Since I haven't finished one in over 6 years, I decided not to sign up for next year.

Here's one of the pieces I showed, just to prove that I still use my machine from time to time. This is a fused applique (machine quilted) mini quilt based on a pattern I saw in a quilt shop in Cape Cod last summer.

This cute little fabric bowl was one of many that decorated the tabletops at our banquet dinner on Saturday night. A lucky person at each table got to take one home (I wasn't one of them). The woman who made it taught a class, which I couldn't take because I was teaching a class of my own; but, I now know how to make one too... (I have friends in high places).

Speaking of friends, here I am with my friend Mary, wearing the first of my many outfits.

You remember how much time and energy I spent fretting over my outfit? Well, I never wore the crocheted vest (know anyone that needs one?) or the vintage skirt, because at the last minute I put together this little ensemble, thanks to an impromptu stop at Rue 21.

I don't think I have ever looked thinner or taller! I wish I could have brought that mirror home with me! By the end of Thursday evening, I was rolling around on the bed moaning about my bloated aching belly, and my friend Renee, who is from Texas, said "Must be that graice you ate all day".

To which I said, "Graice? What the heck is graice? Did you mean rice? I didn't eat any rice."

"You know, all that friiiied chicken, friiied mozzarella sticks, and buffalo wings y'all ate today", she replied.

"Oh!" I exclaimed, "Grease! You mean GREASE!"

Gotta love those southern accents.

These are my pals, the self-pronounced "A-Team" (because we get things done).

My outfit paled in comparison to some of the stars of the evening.

Sonny and Cher dropped by and performed "I Got You Babe"(seriously).

Goldie Hawn (sucking it in) appeared in costume from her years on "Laugh In". I added the mask to protect the identity of our mystery chick, who took home a prize for best costume. Ever the enterprising Yankee, she dyed a set of long john's to make a skin colored body suit.

I have to wonder if this is how she really dressed in the 60's...

It wasn't all about the costumes though. Here I am with my students in our tote bag class. As soon as the class started, I discovered that my materials list was wrong and that two students did not have enough fabric to make the large bag. I also learned that all the proofreading in the world will not catch omitted information. Fortunately, one woman spotted my two (drat!) errors before anyone else goofed. One lady saved my skin the day when she shared that she had taken a class with Alex Anderson (think Lily Chin) and that there was a mistake in her pattern too!

Nonetheless, I think they all turned out terrific.

OK, confession time.

Remember that little self-imposed yarn/fabric diet I announced on the eve of the trip? Well, I started out OK...

I didn't buy anything at Keepsake, and I only bought 2 patterns at Patternworks (more on that later), so I felt perfectly justified in buying this little 1930's reproduction fabric wall hanging kit at the Quilt Shop at Vac'n Sew in Conway. It was a great deal! As "punishment", I worked very hard on it all weekend, but never touched the two UFO's I brought with me.

After several hours of diligent piecing on Friday evening, at 2 am, I discovered that my border didn't fit. Why? Hmmm. Something to do with that little line in the directions that said to square up my blocks to 4 1/2 inches before piecing. Ooops. It wasn't a fatal error. If you are going to screw up your quilt, it's best to do it in the company of 75 other quilters. A little extra strip of white on each end, and voila! it fits and no one would ever know that I have too many keys in my piano (that border is called a "piano key" for obvious reasons).

I finished about half of the quilting (by machine) and now it's another UFO, which may have to take a back seat for a little while because I have some knitting to do..

I finally found the new Vogue Knitting (some cute stuff I'll talk about another day), Patons Next Step Two book and Nashua's North American Designer Collection No. 4, which has this pattern in it, seen advertised in the pages of Interweave Knits.

I really wanted to buy the yarn called for in the pattern, Natural Focus Ecologie Cotton, but all of the colors were too washed out for my complexion, and cotton is a mean yarn to knit with.

I would have been more than happy to go home without any yarn at all, but I sold all of the kits I made up for my class and had some money burning in my pocket. Coincidentally, my friends wanted to go back to Keepsake before heading home, which just happens to be in the same plaza as Patternworks. So, I broke down and bought this Dale of Norway Svale in Sage.

And wouldn't you know it, we had to drive through Cornish to get home, where I finally found the yarn for Ariann (again)... Ella Rae Classic in color no. 11 at Rosemary's Gift (Yarn) Shop.

Even if I hadn't bought a single thing, I still wouldn't have come home empty handed.

Look at all the stuff I received! Memento's, door prizes, and goodies just for being there! There's a funny story about those spools of thread. At our banquet dinner, it was announced that each table would participate in a team trivia contest. Being only one of 4 people in the entire room born in the 60's, I figured that I wouldn't be much help. Unfortunately, my table elected me to be their representative, so you can imagine my horror when it was announced that there was a tie between two tables and that I, as spokesperson, was the person who had to answer the tie-breaker trivia question!!! "Oh No! We are so screwed!" I yelled out. I was allowed to choose one "lifeline" from my team (I felt like I was on Deal or No Deal). Feeling like we were on the Titanic, the tie breaking question was announced: "What was the title of the first protest song of the 60's, sung by Barry McGuire?". I had no clue, and neither did the other team, but my lifeline knew the words and started to sing... "The eastern world it is exploding, violence flarin', bullets loadin'..." and I'm saying "Hey! I know that song!! There was a cover in the 80's...." tick tick tick. "I know!!! EVE OF DESTRUCTION!!!???!!!" We won! Big victory dance!! Go figure.

Even if I hadn't been given any prizes, I still came home a winner. Look at all of the little treats my friends gave me! They are the best!

Including a new groovy tote bag! I can never ever have enough totes.

When it comes right down to it, it's not about costumes, shopping, eating and prizes (even though that's fun), it's about having a great time with my friends.

Ironically, I bought this little sign to hang in my craft room to remind me to stay in check.

Heh heh.